22nd Annual Paulette Shirey Pritchett Lecture in Pathology

22nd Annual Paulette Shirey Pritchett Lecture in Pathology

Jeffrey I. Gordon, M.D.

This endowed lecture series is named in honor of Dr. Paulette Shirey Pritchett. Dr. Pritchett was a highly respected, young member of the UAB Department of Pathology when she unexpectedly passed away on August 4, 1984. It is widely recognized as the premier named lectureship at UAB in Experimental Pathology and previous recipients have included several Nobel Laureates and National Academy of Science Members. This year we are pleased to honor Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon as the 2013 lecturer.

Jeffrey Gordon is the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology. He received his A.B. from Oberlin College and his M.D. from the University of Chicago. He joined the Washington University faculty after completing his clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology, and spending three years as a research associate at the NIH. He was Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology from 1991-2004. In 2004, he resigned from his position as Department Head in order to establish the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology. From 1994 to 2003, he also served as director of the University’s Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, which oversees graduate education in the biological sciences. Gordon and his students conduct interdisciplinary studies of the genomic and metabolic foundations of mutually beneficial host-microbial relationships in the human gut. A central focus of his group is the relationship between our gut microbiomes and nutritional status. Gordon is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, where he currently serves as chair of its Section on Medical Physiology and Metabolism, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.